Watch: Amateur Champion Christo Lamprecht walks in an early birdie for perfect start at The Open Championship 2023
Arriving at the Royal Liverpool, amateur champion Christo Lamprecht didn't waste much time making his impression in the Open Championship 2023. Lamprecht made his first birdie on the third hole of the first round.
Last month, Lamprecht became the third South African in the past six years to win the Amateur Championship, beating Ronan Kleu of Switzerland by 3-and-2. This earned him a spot in the 151st Open.
Lamprecht, who is grouped with Joost Luiten and Louis Oosthuizen, started the round with two straight pars. On the par-4, 396-yard third hole, he hit the shot 332 yards off the tee to Rough. His second shot went 111 yards into the green.
The hole was still 25 feet away, but the young South African stood calm and composed while putting for a birdie. As the ball went inside the cup, the crowd applauded him for his first-ever birdie in the majors. The golfer greeted them with a little wave of his hand.
An early birdie for The Amateur Champion, Christo Lamprecht. pic.twitter.com/0pehzT44lg
The upcoming star from Georgia Tech has so far sunk four birdies out of 10 holes played and tops the leaderboard at 4-under (at the time of writing). Although it's a great start by the emerging golfer, it will be interesting to see if he continues the momentum to maintain his lead by the end of the day.
How has amateur champion Christo Lamprecht performed so far?
Christo Lamprecht was born on January 30, 2001, in the Western Cape. At the age of three, his father introduced him to the game of golf. He has had an impressive start to his amateur career, as he became the youngest player ever to emerge victorious at the South African Amateur Championship in 2017.
Lamprecht was part of the Junior Presidents Cup in 2017 and 2019. By winning the East of Ireland Amateur in 2018, he became the first international champion of the event. He then finished T8 at the St Andrews Links Trophy and T11 at the Junior Players Championship.
The following year, Lamprecht won the Junior Golf World Cup and finished as runner-up at the Southern Cape Amateur Open and the All Africa Juniors Challenge.
Lamprecht joined Georgia Tech in 2020 and did well in college golf. He became an All-American and a Fred Haskins Award finalist in 2020. During the 2022–23 season, he claimed one victory and three runner-up finishes.
This year, the South African helped Georgia Tech finish runner-up in the NCAA Championship. Last month, he won the Amateur Championship, beating Rohan Kleu 3-and-2. With this win, he jumped to third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and also received an invitation to this year's Open, next year's Masters, and the US Open.
Here are the Amateur wins by Christo Lamprecht so far:
- 2016: Dimension Data Junior Open
- 2017: South African Amateur Championship
- 2018: East of Ireland Amateur Open Championship, Dimension Data Junior Open
- 2020: Cape Province Open
- 2022: Inverness Intercollegiate
- 2023: The Amateur Championship